“We misplaced 80 p.c of our pure forests between 1995 and 2014,” Abubakar Ben Mahmoud, surroundings minister of the nation off northern Mozambique, advised AFP in a current interview.
With a excessive inhabitants density of greater than 700 residents per sq. kilometre, “Deforestation has been intensified as farmers are searching for arable land for his or her actions,” the minister mentioned.
The clearing of the forest for cultivation added to break brought on by the manufacturing of ylang-ylang important oil, used within the composition of status perfumes, and by the manufacture of conventional carved picket doorways for which the island is famend.
Fragrance and smoke
Along with Madagascar and Mayotte, the Comoros is among the many world’s prime producers of the fragile and sweet-smelling yellow ylang-ylang flower, extensively utilized in perfumes. The manufacturing of ylang-ylang, vanilla and cloves makes up a big a part of the archipelago’s agricultural output, which represents a 3rd of its GDP.
The nation has round 10,000 ylang-ylang producers, most primarily based on Anjouan, in accordance with a report commissioned by the French Growth Company for a venture to help Comoran agricultural exports. Burning wooden is the most affordable supply of gasoline for the distillation course of, the report highlighted, with 250 kilogrammes (550 kilos) wanted to provide one litre of important oil.
Altering practices
The ylang-ylang important oil trade, has lately heeded calls to restrict its affect.
Some producers try to restrict their use of wooden, equivalent to Mohamed Mahamoud, 67, who mentioned he halved consumption by upgrading his tools. “I now use third-generation chrome steel alembics, with an improved oven outfitted with doorways and chimneys,” mentioned Mahamoud, who has grown and distilled ylang-ylang close to the city of Bambao Mtsanga for practically 45 years. Its wooden consumption has thus been decreased by half.
To keep away from encroaching on the forest, most of his wooden now comes from mango and breadfruit timber he grows himself.
Some producers have lately switched to crude oil to gasoline their stills. However that prices twice as a lot wooden, mentioned one ylang-ylang exporter, who requested to stay nameless. And excessive electrical energy costs in Comoros imply that utilizing electrical vitality would value 10 occasions extra, “to not point out the lengthy intervals of energy cuts”, he mentioned.
Drying rivers
A part of the drive to scale back wooden consumption comes from an alarming commentary: not solely is deforestation stripping Anjouan’s mountains, it is usually drying up its rivers.
Forests are important for “the infiltration of water that feeds rivers and aquifers… like a sponge that retains water and releases it regularly”, mentioned hydroclimatologist Abdoul Oubeidillah.
“In 1925, there have been 50 rivers with a robust year-round circulation of water,” mentioned Bastoini Chaambani, from the environmental safety NGO Dayima. “At the moment, there are fewer than 10 rivers that circulation repeatedly.”
Restoring forest areas
The brown and barren patches on the slopes are starkly seen from the headquarters of Dahari, a number one organisation within the combat towards deforestation, primarily based within the hills of Mutsamudu.
The NGO final yr launched a reforestation programme, working hand-in-hand with native farmers who’re referred to as “water guardians” (“Walezi wa ya maji”).
Beneath a five-year conservation contract, the farmers decide to replanting their land or leaving it fallow in trade for monetary compensation, mentioned one of many venture’s managers, Misbahou Mohamed.
The primary section has included 30 farmers, with compensation paid out after inspection of the plots.
The Comoros authorities has in the meantime introduced it additionally intends to participate in reforestation efforts. “We are going to do every thing we are able to to avoid wasting what little forest we’ve left,” mentioned the surroundings minister.
